Lilly invests in biotechnology

Eli Lilly & Company has announced a multi-million dollar investment to expand its existing biotechnology capabilities in the US

Eli Lilly & Company has announced a multi-million dollar investment to expand its existing biotechnology capabilities in the US.

The investment will support research and development of multi-specific therapeutics, in which two or more distinct mechanisms of action are engineered in one molecule with the goal of providing enhanced efficacy with an improved safety profile.

Lilly said it is hiring additional biochemists and biologists to work at its biotechnology facilities in Indianapolis and San Diego.

Dr Jan M Lundberg, Lilly's executive vice president of science and technology and president of Lilly Research Laboratories, said: "Our further investment in multi-specific therapeutics underscores Lilly's commitment to the field of biotechnology and its importance to providing improved outcomes for individual patients."

Lilly's protein engineering expertise has been built internally in its Indianapolis biotechnology research group and through the earlier acquisition of Applied Molecular Evolution (AME).

Lilly is also analysing its historic library of protein and antibody assets, a compilation of molecules from decades of research in Lilly Research Laboratories, AME and ImClone, to determine their potential to be engineered into multi-specific therapeutics.